'We'll Get It Fixed'

McConnell says he'll fight for changes to Affordable Care Act

OBJECTIONS: Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell discusses what he sees as the flaws in the Affordable Care Act during a visit to Carroll County Memorial Hospital on Monday. (Staff photos by Ken Ritchie/kritchie@madisoncourier.com)

WANTS ANSWERS: Sherrell Nunnelley, a doctor of occupational medicine at Carroll County Memorial Hospital, asks Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell what - if anything - Congress can do about the Affordable Care Act.

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Sen. Mitch McConnell met with healthcare workers in Carrollton Monday to discuss his views on the new health care laws and how legislation affects health care providers.

McConnell (R-Ky.) visited Carroll County Memorial Hospital where about 40 doctors, nurses, physicians and other hospital employees gathered to listen to the Affordable Care Act discussion.

"As you can imagine, I'm not very supportive," the Senate minority leader said.

McConnell said that insurance for everyone would be a great thing in principle. But loopholes in the current healthcare legislation won't help the majority of people who were uninsured before, he said.

Nearly half of uninsured Americans couldn't afford insurance prior to the Affordable Care Act. The other half were young, healthy and didn't think they needed insurance, he said.

Still, the Affordable Care Act isn't going to help most of the uninsured Americans, McConnell said.

The Affordable Care Act will have a "catastrophic impact" because of spiking premiums and the loss of jobs since employers have had to redefine a "full-time" employee from a 40-hour work week to a 30-hour work week.

Plus, the insurance policies being offered to uninsured Americans through health care exchanges have very high deductibles.

"The policies many people are buying aren't that good," McConnell said.

Instead, the Affordable Care Act has created a new category of people for hospitals and healthcare providers, he said. People might have insurance, but they can't pay for healthcare services because of the high insurance deductibles they have to meet.

"I think this was a big mistake," McConnell said of the Affordable Care Act. "It was a mistake for healthcare and a big mistake for our country."

But the law won't be easily remedied with President Barack Obama in office, he said.

Obama won't repeal the law, but McConnell said Republican legislators plan to try to push back against the legislation.

"We're going to figure out a way to get this fixed," McConnell said. "This isn't going to stay the way it is."